News Release
Teachers in Louisiana Are More Likely to Teach to State Standards Than Teachers in Other States
Oct 13, 2016
In this report, RAND researchers provide evidence that teachers in Louisiana are thinking about and implementing their state standards in ways that are significantly different from teachers in other states and examine Louisiana Department of Education strategies that might be contributing to these results.
Promising Practices of the Louisiana Department of Education
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In today's environment, teachers are often bombarded with contradictory messages about how they should help students meet state standards. The push across the United States for uniform and rigorous standards — as well as high-quality, aligned assessments — represents a chance for states to reimagine ways to provide teachers with clearer and more-coherent messages about what they can be doing every day in their classrooms to support student learning. The impetus for this report is new evidence that state department of education work to align instruction with standards may make a difference for teachers' practices and understanding about their state standards. Using data from the American Teacher Panel, RAND researchers found that Louisiana teachers were more likely than other teachers to consult resources that address their state standards, and they reported teaching — and thinking about teaching — in ways that differ from U.S. norms and in ways that are more aligned with Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Researchers examined Louisiana Department of Education strategies that might be contributing to these results, including a coherent academic strategy, transparent and regular communication with stakeholders, and support for local decisionmaking. This report is intended to provide guidance to states about sensible state systems that give educators coherent messages and concrete tools to help students meet high academic standards.
This research was funded by the Helmsley Charitable Trust and conducted by RAND Education.
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